While Hong Kong-based Lenovo Group, Ltd. (HKG:0992) set a tough earnings pace to follow, possibly bumping veteran Hewlett-Packard Comp. (HPQ) from the first place spot in sales; ASUSTek Computer Inc. (TPE:2357) in many ways looked even more impressive, post higher growth and larger sales/earnings gains.

ASUSTek now holds an estimated 7.3 percent of the personal computer market, after a 12 percent rise in shipments. In Q3 2012 ASUSTek shipped 5 million notebook PCs (up 14 percent) and 2.3 million tablet PCs (up 287.5 percent). That drove its profits to increase 43 percent on a year-to-year basis to T$6.71B ($229.7M USD). Sixteen analysts polled by FactSheet expected a mere T$5.41B ($185.2M USD). The 24 percent earnings surprise is a testament to just how wild and unpredictably ASUSTek is growing.

With the death of the netbook, tablets have grown increasingly important to PC OEMs growth, and ASUSTek appears to be one of the only major players to be getting the equation right. While its Android tablets have shown promising sales, ASUSTek has even higher hopes from its Windows 8 tablet lineup, which should land next month, in time for the crucial holiday season.

ASUSTek is bullish on its Windows 8 lineup.

Among those will be the Windows 8 Vivo Tab RT, an LTE tablet that will be ASUSTek's first design with a carrier contract. The Vivo Tab will be carried by the AT&T, Inc. (T) network in the U.S.

Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Alberto Moel said ASUSTek is well positioned, telling The Wall Street Journal, "From the Windows 8 products we've seen, I'd say Asustek has the most competitive lineup so far. Their Windows 8 product prices are lower than expected, so we expect them to do well."

"Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment -- same piece of hardware -- paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be." -- Steve Ballmer